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Soaking up the sun

When it comes to solar power, it’s a case of the more blue the better according to Victoria University of Wellington researcher Dr Jonathan Halpert.

26 June 2014

Dr Halpert, a lecturer in Victoria’s School of Chemical and Physical Sciences and an associate investigator at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, is leading a research team exploring new materials that will help solar panels make the most of a sunny day.

According to the team’s initial research results, the key to increasing the efficiency of solar power is using smaller particles which can capture more light than those traditionally used in solar cells.

“Wavelengths of light have different amounts of energy associated with them—the bluer it is, the more energy is associated with that particle of light,” says Dr Halpert. “So we’re making nanocrystals that have broad absorption properties, allowing them to soak up all these different wavelengths, while losing less energy.”

Dr Halpert says the best silicon-based technologies currently used in solar panels have power efficiency rates of around 21 percent, meaning a great deal of light-energy is lost as heat in the process.

However by using a combination of the existing technology and the Victoria team’s new materials, much higher ratings could be achieved, says Dr Halpert.

But it’s not just the efficiency of generating electrical currents that has sparked Dr Halpert’s research into new solar materials—he also wants to make the technology more efficient economically.

“A lot of the materials that people use have toxic or very rare materials in them. We’re trying to move away from toxic and rare to common, cheap and easy.”

A group of Victoria University of Wellington students will spend the summer developing an interactive website that will allow the public and government organisations to see how the energy choices we make today will impact New Zealand in 2050.

Victoria University of Wellington’s engineering students are continuing to push the frontiers of pollution monitoring in New Zealand’s waterways through an innovative collaboration known as RiverWatch.

Food production is the backbone of New Zealand’s economy—and a computer modelling programme designed by a Victoria University of Wellington academic is helping ensure that farming practices here and overseas are as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.

Victoria University of Wellington scientists will play a key role in developing New Zealand’s world-class marine environment as part of the Sustainable Seas Ko Ngā Moana Whakauka National Science Challenge.